Origami
by TheFinalElements
Summary: She needed a miracle - and he was there to give it to her. (Specialshipping one-shot. AU)


**Special thanks to Pikaree1 (Petal) for helping me edit out the mistakes! :)**

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In schools all around the world, there are ranks among the students. Some common stereotypes include the popular crowd, the false popular people who pretend to be popular, the nerds (more often called losers), and the shy loners that keep to themselves.

There were also other students, the ones that exist outside the circles and stand on their own. Students that are rarely thought of, and rarely portrayed in school life. The ones with their own cluster of friends, who don't care about gossip or algebra, who never fit into any of the said groups. Anonymities Normals. Ordinary people who live in their own social world and nowhere else.

Take Amarillo Del Bosque Verde, or Yellow, as she calls herself. A bit on the shy and quiet side (a bit is as understatement), though not exactly shunned from the society either. She has her own circle of friends, she maintains a good grade without worrying too much, and she doesn't care much about becoming popular. Her days at school were pretty much all the same. A constant routine of classes, an ordinary schedule of ins and outs.

"Hey, Yellow!"

The mentioned girl turned around, fumbling her textbooks she needed next class. She saw a brunette pushing through the thick crowd of students.

"Guess what, Yellow?" Blue asked the blonde as she neared her. Yellow looked behind her and saw that Blue was dragging Green by the wrist – no, hand.

Yellow smiled softly, stopping where she was. Blue loved to play mind tricks on people, mostly by bugging them in an immensely annoying way and asking "Guess what?" until they answer. It was no use trying to ignore the over-eager girl when she wanted something – though it was always followed up by wink or a cheeky grin, Blue's plans were rather devious in nature.

"What is it?" she asked, deliberately responding to Blue's question in a way that was safe. She didn't want another bottle of toothpaste on the contents in her backpack, and besides, Yellow was curious about what Blue was about to say. She seemed more hyped up than usual, hopefully in a good way.

"Green asked me out to the dance!" The long-haired brunette announced proudly and a bit too loudly, dragging an annoyed Green to her side.

Green wrenched his hand out of Blue's grip, crossing his arms. "Pesky woman," he muttered under his breath, so low that Yellow could barely hear.

Blue had heard his comment too, apparently. "Oh shut it, you." she teased, putting on one of her infamous grins. "I don't see you _denying_ it."

Yellow grinned. "That's nice to hear." she commented, nudging one of her textbooks into her tight bag. "I suppose you'll be going to the dance, then?"

"Of course! With an anniversary celebration like this, you just can't miss out. I'm assuming you're going. By default."

The short girl bit her lip. "I'm not really sure yet, Blue. I mean, it's a dance after all. Hanging around the snack bar all night just doesn't seem like right thing to do."

Blue shoved the thought away. "Aww...come _on_ Yellow. everyone's going to hang out at the snack bar sometime during the event. You know Sapph? She's going for the sole purpose of hanging around the snack stand." The brunette rolled her eyes, then looked at Yellow with an expression that said _Can you believe that? _quite obviously_. _She continued. "I think she's going to sabotage it. Oh - before you ask, I can give you ten dollars if you don't want to pay with your own. Consider it my gift to you for letting me mess with your love life."

Yellow had just opened her mouth to state about the whopping admission fee, but quickly closed it again. How did Blue predict this stuff? Sometimes it seemed that she could read minds and counter someone before they even state the question.

"I guess?" The blonde said after a few moments of hesitation. "Just...give me time to think, okay? I haven't decided yet," She glanced at the clock mounted on the wall, desperately searching for another subject. "The bell's about to ring – I'm going to go to my next class now." With a hard heave, Yellow slung the bag over her shoulders.

Blue nodded curtly. "Yeah, I should be too. Mr. Blaine would be angry if I'm tardy again." She giggled nonchalantly and turned around. That was when the brunette noticed.

"Hey, where's Green?" Blue huffed. "Ugh, he went on without me. Again!" Waving a hasty goodbye to Yellow, she raced down the hallways to her nest class. Yellow watched her leave, then did the same.

Yellow arrived at her nest class just before the bell rang. Erika, the biology teacher, was explaining the anatomy and behavior of a druddigon.

Yellow paid enough attention to scribble down decent notes, but the Blue's question was bugging her throughout the session.

_Are you coming to the dance? _

The dance she was talking about wasn't an ordinary dance. In fact, it was far from it. It was not only an extravagant party, but also an anniversary. A dance to celebrate the eightieth anniversary since its founding. It only happened once a decade, and students knew they would be foolish to miss such a rare and elusive event. Also, there was a new, unique theme to it. The tenth anniversary held a scavenger hunt. The sixtieth hosted a pokemon contest. Others included a pool party held outside, and the passing out of tickets to a live circus.

Though Yellow badly wanted to go to the dance, she was reluctant to attend without a dance partner. Yes, as much as she didn't want to admit it, she was jealous at Blue. Green's proposal to Blue wasn't really "out of the blue", no pun intended. He had always tolerated her much better than other girls who attempted to flirt with him.

Meanwhile, Yellow didn't want to embarrass herself standing around like an idiot. The dance was what it was – a dance. Unless anyone wanted to call it by its formal name: Pallet High School's Eightieth Anniversary Dance Festival, which altogether was a mouthful to say. With her constant stuttering and quiet demeanor, the blonde suspected that no one would even notice her, let alone ask her to the dance. That was why she felt so awkward discussing the subject with Blue. The lucky girl already had everything already worked out for her.

"-their long limbs and legs are vital to the druddigon's ability to maneuver through tight tunnels and low caves. Their rough skin has evolved after years of scraping against cavern rocks." Ms. Erika set down her chalk and dusted her hands. "That's it for today. Please copy down whatever you think you need on the test. I have some matters to tend, so behave yourselves until I come back." The plant-type specialist opened the door with a creak and stepped outside.

Almost at once, the silence broke into a hushed, yet frenzied whispering as all the students started conversing at once. Yellow set down her pencil and shook her sore writing hand, surveying the classroom. She didn't take much of an effort in getting to know all the students in the school, so most of the people were foreign to her.

Yellow noticed a certain raven-haired boy slowly pull out a clean sheet of lined paper. But instead of doodling on it, like most people did when they're bored, he folded the paper in half and creased the fold. Then the boy proceeded to fold it again and again in what seemed like a planned manner, occasionally stopping to scratch his head, as if trying to recall the next step. His crimson eyes stared at the half-finished origami in his hands.

The black haired boy, whose name was Red, happened to sit a row across from Yellow. Not only that, but he was also in several of her other classes. Yellow felt a fluttering feeling she couldn't quite identify in her chest when she glanced at him.

Even though he readily denied it in front of her, Red was somewhat popular with the female crowd. He didn't like all the attention from the fangirls, however, and preferred to stay with nobodies like Yellow, Green, and Blue. That was how Yellow met him.

Red was certainly folding _something_, though what it _actually was_ Yellow really didn't know. Curiosity got the better of her and she carefully wormed her way out of her seat, casting a wary eye on the door in case Ms. Erika decided to come back.

"So..." The petite blonde ventured, "What are you folding?"

Red snapped out of his trance with the origami and looked up at Yellow, making her look away. Meeting someone eye-to-eye was never Yellow's forte, but she had a hard time stopping the habit when it came to Red. Something about him always made Yellow nervous and jumpy. The messy halo of bed hair along with a friendly smile always made her stammer, his voice somehow made her heart beat faster, and his striking red eyes always were hard to look straight into.

He opened his mouth to say something, but his response was interrupted by a voice.

"Red~!"

A squeal, more like.

Another girl from Yellow's class, one that she thankfully did not have the honor of knowing personally, was standing in front of Red. Her hair was streaked with a horrendous fusion of neon vision-burning colors, so much that Yellow couldn't tell what her natural hair color was. It might as well have been bright magenta for all she knew. There was an obvious tint of makeup on her face.

The strange girl shuffled her feet. "Red, you probably know about the dance coming up-"

"-No."

"S-" The girl did a double take. "W-what?!"

"A couple girls asked me that this morning," Red explained in a exasperated tone, "and I'm betting that you're not the last one to ask me that question. No, I will not willingly go to a dance just because some stranger asked me to. I already have a person in mind." He returned to folding the piece of paper.

The neon-haired girl looked slightly crestfallen. "Aww...never mind then." She straightened herself with an indignant huff, then walked back to her seat. "I'll find someone else to go with me."

Yellow turned to Red. "That was kinda harsh." she commented.

Red shrugged. "Believe me, you'll get really annoyed if you're asked the same, useless question multiple times every class. And they never accept "no" as an answer – you have to explain it to them too. Every. Single. Time." He groaned and rested his head on his hands. "Sometimes I wish I was like you, Green, and Blue. You have everything so easy."

_No, not always. _Yellow thought. She was the ordinary schoolgirl that no one notices, much less remember their name and invite her to the dance. Red was lucky in a way he never realized. He just had to choose one of the girls and – bam – problem solved. The short blonde didn't say this out loud, however.

Red's bangs flared up as he pushed his hands further up his forehead in a way that Yellow thought was strangely cute. "It's not like I hate them or anything. It's just that repeating the same thing over and over to people who just don't understand irritates me. I'm not counselor, Yellow. And I'm not a teacher for that exact reason. I...I just can't tolerate them." he mumbled, his voice muffled by the palms of his hands.

Yellow shuffled uncertainly, not sure what it make out of Red's unusually melancholy attitude. "You know, you can tell me who you're choosing. Once the other girls see that you already have someone, they just stop automatically." she advised. She leaned a little closer, just in case he wanted to say it_._

The boy glanced at her, a half smile lingering on his face. "Hah. You want to know who I'm interested in too, don't you? That's for me to know and you to discover," he smiled wanly. "All will be revealed on the night of the dance so the other girls can stop bothering me."

Yellow's heart sunk. A sullen "Oh" was all she managed to get out. Red's reply was so simple, it disappointed her. But again, her expectations about what would happen also disappointed her. Did she really think that Red would announce his crush in the middle of the classroom to an ordinary girl like her. And even crazier – did she think Red to get onto the floor on both knees to tell her? And the _craziest_ thing – did she _really_ expect Red to say: "Of course it's you, Yellow. May I have the pleasure of dancing with you at the anniversary?"

Or something like that. A lot less formal, maybe.

Of course, the mindless fantasy that churned in the depths of Yellow's imagination would remain only in her mind, a hopeful thought that too soon lost its luster. Her life was as normal as any person could get, full of ordinary ups and downs. To have such a popular kid say something like that would be a miracle. A miracle that was bound to never happen.

Red paused for a few seconds before continuing. "And to answer what you were asking before someone so rudely interrupted-" At this he looked at the neon-haired girl sitting awkwardly in her chair. "-I'm finished with it."

He peeled some paper flaps outward and held it out to Yellow. "Is it decent? I'm not very experienced in origami, so try to take it easy on me if you are going to criticize."

Yellow gingerly took it from his hand and eyed it inquisitively. "A daisy?"

"A flower."

"Why are you folding _flowers_?"

Red gave her a wounded look. "You mean it's illegal for a boy to fold flowers?"

Yellow hesitated after seeing him so crestfallen. "Umm...I-I guess you can..."

"Geez, Yellow, can't you understand that it was a joke and I'm pretending?" Red smiled and gave a small nod at the door. "Ms. Erika's coming back. Better go to your seat before she sends you to detention." Yellow at the door and saw a silhouette on the foggy glass.

The small blonde yelped in panic and literally dove into her seat, hastily opening her notes just as the biology teacher opened the door. The black-haired woman strode to the chalkboard in confident steps. "Alrighty. Thank you for waiting as I took care of certain matters (Gold). We will continue taking notes."

Th sound of pencil being readied and eraser scratching on paper resonated throughout the classroom. Yellow picked up her pencil and began to write out what Ms. Erika was explaining.

After what seemed like hours of note-taking, the bell rang. Yellow slowly got up, several parts of her body screaming their complaints at her. Yellow winced and shook her asleep foot in a feeble attempt to wake it up. She gathered her belongings in her arms and patiently waited until most of her classmates were out of the room. Blue once told the blonde that her size was ideal for slipping through turbulent crowds, but Yellow preferred to keep a decent amount of personal space around her at all times. Crowds disturbed her more than she would let on.

Once the majority of the class had left, Yellow slipped into the hallways. She wanted to meet up with Blue and Green again, or maybe a talk with Crystal would benefit her next math test (that girl was a genius).

"Hey."

"Eeeep!" Yellow squeaked and abruptly turned around, finding herself face-to-face with Red.

"Hey Yellow," Red said meekly, rubbing reddening spots on his face. "I appreciate you responding to me – some people need to be poked a lot before they actually notice you – but next time can you _not_ whip me with your ponytail?"

Yellow felt a her cheeks reddening, even without the hair-whip-in-the-face. "I'm sorry!" she blurted out. "I didn't mean to hit you. I'm just not used to people speaking behind me."

Red grinned. "Yeah that was my bad," he laughed in embarrassment, scratching his hair like he always did when thinks became awkward. "But can you come with me for a little bit? I promise it won't take long." Red reached for her hand, grasping it in his.

Yellow immediately became flustered at Red's touch, pulling her hand away hastily and shoving it in her pocket. Red's face reddened even more, and this time Yellow was sure it wasn't the swelling that caused it.

"S-sorry about that." Red stammered, which surprised Yellow. Red? _Stammering?_

The blonde tried to reassure him. "I'll just follow you as you go. No need to guide me."

"A-all. All r-" Red paused and took a deep breath. "Ugh, I've never felt so nervous." He began walking, first slow, then a faster until Yellow was running in order to catch up. "You see, what I'm about the tell you something I've never told anybody else." He looked back at her. "Promise not to say anything?"

"I won't!" Yellow's reply was slightly out of breath. She showed him her hands so he knew she wasn't crossing any fingers. She never believed in the trick, but Blue always did it behind her back when she was making a promise. The brunette told her it removed the guilt like magic.

"Good." Red turned around and speed-walked again.

Yellow caught up to Red. "So what is it? Is it the girl you're going to ask out to the dance?"

"No."

"School passageway that few know about?"

"No."

"Secret stash of homework and ice cream passes?"

"No."

"The person you're going to choose to dance with you?"

"You said that already."

"So?"

"I said no."

They passed the crowd of rushing students and sprinted into a hallway that pretty much never had any people. The lights were on, but there was no noise except their thunderous footsteps on the tiled floor and the faint whir of a generator. Red stopped at a secluded corner at the end of the hallway.

Yellow didn't see anything special about the place. It was just a dirty corner with grease building up along the edges. "This is what you brought me all the way here for?"

"No." Red sighed. "The location's just handy because it's secluded. No one will see us." He set his backpack gently onto the ground, and Yellow noticed with a start how carefully he handled it. All his books and notebooks were carried by him separately.

"There's something in your bag, right?"

Red nodded, though he didn't even make a move toward the slumped backpack. The raven-haired boy looked at Yellow with his crimson eyes, making her awkwardly glance away again.

Red shuffled his feet like he was in an uncomfortable position, his gaze glued to the tile floors. "I never wanted to be popular when I came to this school. I wanted to be an outsider, a person outside the crowds rather than in them. I just wanted a regular life at school rather than be harassed by others."

He continued. "I know they might not seem a lot to you, but I had to give it my best try, didn't I? They're tattered, and a bit ripped because I accidentally fell down the stairs with them, but otherwise they're still fine. I don't want to give you any store brought item. Even thought they are better than whatever I can produce with my own hands, they're just bought with money. And everybody has money. I planned to give you something that I made myself."

Yellow's brain short-circuited as Red strode toward his backpack, zipping open the topmost zipper and arranging the contents inside. "At first I never thought I could think of anything that would actually catch your eye, so I decided to go for the ordinary. The normal. I thought it fitted you. And if you don't like it, remember that it's the thought that counts."

The raven-haired boy grinned sheepishly as he produced a bundle of plain, origami flowers folded from simple lined paper and handed it to her. "Yellow, will you go to the dance with me?"

The whole world seemed to spin to a stop as Yellow held the flowers. There were five slightly crumpled, slightly ripped origami flowers wrapped in a red rubber band, each crafted from what seemed like lined paper. They were beautiful, in their very own, ordinary way.

"Of course!" Yellow squealed, clutching the bundle of paper. She felt as if she'd never been happier in her life. For the first time, her dreams became reality. For the first time, her miracle had presented himself right in front of her.

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**Blue definitely taped it on her spy cameras. It's in her top-secret photo album now.**

**The ending was a bit crappy, I do say so myself. Couldn't think of something better to put there. **

**You guys are definitely welcome to point out any OC-ness I have in any of my characters. This is my first time doing anything like this and I'd appreciate any help and critiques you send me. If I'm happy enough, I might just go and write the sequel - aka the dance. For anyone who's interested, there will be a poll on my profile where you can vote what shipping I should write next. :D For now, though, it's marked as complete. It'll probably stay complete, because if I add a second chapter then the title wouldn't really fit that chapter. (Unless I want to write about origami again - which I don't.)**

**By the way, I've been whipped with a ponytail many times, and it _hurts_. It's basically just a bunch of tiny whips lashing at your face.**


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